


remedy

by WaveGoodbye



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Follows Dolls' death, Hurt/Comfort, which I will forever be bitter and sad about
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 05:30:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15923870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaveGoodbye/pseuds/WaveGoodbye
Summary: She’s experienced this before: death in the family.Daddy and Willa, Curtis. Shorty. Willa again. Dolls.Waverly thinks she should be used to the shock of it by now but it devastates her equally each and every time, like somehow her brain forgets that she’s done this before and knows what to do. It isn’t true, of course. It couldn’t be. Her world is too different without each and every one of them.





	remedy

**Author's Note:**

> This little aftermath of sorts hasn't left me alone all week and so I finally surrendered and wrote it down.

It’s dark by the time they make it back to the Homestead.

 

For the first time in a long, long time, it doesn't feel like home for Waverly. It doesn't feel unfamiliar, that isn’t it. It is more that the emotional comfort that home typically provided was unmistakably absent. Frustratingly, she is certain that every other location on earth would feel the same way, if not worse, right now. So, she stays.  
  
She stays because Wynonna is there, because she wants to be close enough so that should her sister call for her, she will be there. As it stands, Wynonna insists to be alone.

 

Wynonna is in her room, says she's going to try to sleep but Waverly knows she won't, that she couldn’t possibly. Waverly has tried every reason she can think of to get Wynonna to be with her and Nicole but she hasn’t had any luck because Wynonna doesn't want her, she wants Dolls.  
  
Waverly doesn't take it personally but it breaks her heart all the same.

 

She’s experienced this before: death in the family.  
  
Daddy and Willa, Curtis. Shorty. Willa again. Dolls.  
  
Waverly thinks she should be used to the shock of it by now but it devastates her equally each and every time, like somehow her brain forgets that she’s done this before and knows what to do. It isn’t true, of course. It couldn’t be. Her world is too different without each and every one of them.  
  
She doesn’t know how to keep up with her thoughts, everything is moving so fast that it almost feels like she isn't thinking at all. Waverly is trying to find an answer to make sense of it all, to find a way forward, but there isn't one right now and it’s a difficult pill to swallow. It's every minute after the next.

 

Waverly tips her head down close to Wynonna's closed curtain, fingers curling against the material. _I'm here_.

 

Every part of her body hurts, even her heart. Especially her heart.

 

The floorboards creak above her, cracking every so often with Nicole's movement until Waverly knows she's at the top of the stairs without having to look. Nicole, who almost died today. Again. Nicole, who found her captive in a revenant’s lair and whose first instinct after releasing her was to wrap Waverly in her own work issued jacket with a kiss to boot.

 

Waverly climbs the stairs, one foot in front of the other until she reaches the top. It feels like a victory. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous until her fingers are reaching out for Nicole's and they tangle together causing the storm within to calm, if only for a moment.

 

“Give her some time,” Nicole says, lips moving to kiss the side of Waverly's head.

 

To Waverly’s surprise, instead of heading to her bedroom they move into the bathroom and the door is locked behind them. The scent of her favourite bubble bath is thick in the warm air and she thanks her God for allowing her to keep this; Nicole.  
  
There had been so much to process in such a short time. Jeremy had just told her how unstable Dolls and his powers were, more than certain to kill him should he use them, Doc was knocked unconscious, and Nicole… Nicole had hung off the edge of a cliff with only Wynonna clinging on to the other end of the rope preventing her from falling and landing broken and still at the bottom.  
  
Waverly remembers crying.  
  
She remembers how desperation and determination raged inside of her and made her limbs feel like they weren’t quite connected to her brain. Waverly remembers helping Wynonna pull Nicole up, but she truly doesn’t know how she did it. All she knows is that she can’t imagine what would have happened should she not have been able to help.  
  
Except that’s not true, she _can_ imagine it.  
  
Waverly’s stomach turns over and a shiver wracks her body despite the warm temperature. She’s barely been able to stop shaking since… since Bulshar and his right-hand man blindsided them and took away a piece of all of their hearts, forever.  
  
Nicole moves behind Waverly and raises her hands, fingers finding each and every pin still holding Waverly’s hair up until she’s carefully pulled them all free. Once she’s deposited them on the closest surface Nicole’s hands return to soft hair, lightly scratching the scalp the way she knows Waverly likes.  
  
“We’re going to take a bath, okay?”  
  
Waverly nods. It seems logical and she's not sure what else to do. Her hands bump against Nicole’s when she makes a move to unzip the dress that has felt uncomfortable and scratchy for hours now.  
  
“I got it,” Nicole promises, proving it moments later when she follows the line of the zipper all the way to the small of Waverly’s back.  
  
It feels like dead skin and Waverly pushes at each of her shoulders while Nicole palms her hips and gently pulls down so that Waverly is able to step out of the article entirely. Waverly turns and peers up at Nicole who is stripping her own body of clothes, some of her pain visible in angry red scrapes or blooming purple bruises from the car crash and abduction. She sees anger flicker through honey-brown eyes and leans forward, lips finding the hollow of Nicole's throat to soothe her.

 

“Let's get you clean,” Nicole suggests once she’s undressed and freeing Waverly of a bra and panties. “Can you get in?”

 

Waverly knows Nicole would lift her in the tub if needed but she's seen the swollen, cut up state of Nicole's left knee, right hip and elbow, and nods her head mutely, hobbling back a step to sit on the edge of the bath. With help from a steadying hand Waverly twists around and grabs purchase, lowering herself into water so hot it makes her skin prickle for a moment while her body adjusts to the temperature. It stings her palms from where the rope burned into it but she keeps them submerged, the pain almost a relief.

 

By the time Nicole climbs in behind her and settles her legs either side, Waverly is less shocked by the temperature and tips her head back.

 

Nicole leans hers forward until she's nosing at Waverly's temple. “Good?”

 

Waverly reaches behind blindly until her arm is curling around Nicole's neck. Her body is warm and soft against Waverly’s back, can feel the steady rise and fall of Nicole's chest as she's held, and the wave of guilt at _having_ this swells so quickly and fiercely that she's wholly unprepared to fight it.

Nicole holds her tighter at the first sob, quietly comforting. She's there until Waverly can feel herself getting carried away, unable to suck enough air into her lungs, and then there are gentle but firm fingers at her chin, pulling until her head is turned and Nicole is kissing her.

 

It takes a moment for Waverly to be able to kiss back, and it's messy to start with. It's messy and then it's desperate, and then she can breathe.

 

The bath helps some.  
  
With the physical pain, at least.  
  
Back in Waverly’s bedroom Nicole has changed into one of the two pairs of pyjamas she currently keeps at the Homestead, and Waverly has managed to pull on a clean pair of underwear, unable to decide what to wear to bed when there’s a respectful knock at her door. She throws a robe around her shoulders and ties it around her middle with haste on the way to the door.  
  
Wynonna.  
  
Waverly looks stricken at the sight, but there’s no hesitation to reach for her hand. “Hey.”

 

“I'm going to see him.”

  
It isn’t a question, and there is no following invitation. Still, Waverly feels the need to be close to Wynonna almost like an instinct.

  
“Do you— we'll come with you.” Waverly looks for Nicole. “Right? We can go?”

 

“Of course. As long as you want us to?” Nicole asks.

 

Wynonna casts a glance at her. “No, I-"

 

“You shouldn't be alone, Wynonna.”

 

The thick, grief-stricken sound of her sister's voice slices through her and she frowns against it. “I need to be close to him. Doc's taking me, ‘cause my truck is… y’know," her tongue clicks, "out for the foreseeable.”

 

Waverly wants to challenge it and be the one at Wynonna's side, almost takes it personally because of the grief and the great, suffocating weight of guilt. An apology is ready to fall from her lips again but she swallows it.

 

Nicole understands.

 

Nicole understands in a way that is never selfish first. Waverly wonders how she always does it.

 

“We’re here, okay? Got that?”  
  
Wynonna inclines her head towards Nicole, mouth pressed together, and squeezes Waverly’s hand hard enough for it to sting

 

Once they hear an engine outside and the front door close, Nicole moves for the one closest to them, closing the rest of the world out for just a little while so it’s just the two of them, safe and together.  
  
Waverly worries the inside of her lip and holds the top of her arm. “We did the right thing letting her go, right?”  
  
“Wynonna needs this. Doc’s with her, and she has us and Jeremy… we just have to follow her lead for a little while,” Nicole says, moving to grab something from the dresser and leaning against it. “Let me see your hands.”  
  
Any other time Waverly would have cracked a joke about the wording. But not tonight. Tonight she moves without a word, coming to stand in front of Nicole as she inspects her hands. They’re sore from when she and Wynonna were tired and in pain and Nicole slipped down a few feet. Luckily the skin isn’t blistered, but it’s a close call. It’s still angry and red, some of the skin over her palm and fingers split from the force. Nothing that wouldn’t heal. If she wasn't so distracted, Waverly might notice the angry red scrape against her cheek has already stopped stinging so badly.

 

Waverly doesn’t take her eyes off Nicole as she delicately applies ointment to her hands, too committed to the task at hand to notice. She hisses quietly in pain, unable to help it, and notices Nicole wince too. Waverly thinks it’s solely sympathetic at first but it happens again before long and Nicole shifts her weight to her other leg.  
  
It’s like a lightbulb goes off.

 

“We should ice your knee,” Waverly suggests softly as she’s all been taken care of. “Sit down, I’ll—”

“I already did. After we got back… You were with Wynonna.”

It hurts to hear. Nicole took such good care of her, and she hadn't even thought to—

“It's okay,” Nicole says, following her train of thought.

  
“No, it's not.”  
  
It isn’t okay, but at least she has time to make it up to Nicole. At least Nicole will be fine despite the near-miss of it all. Underneath superficial injuries, she was fine. The frown eventually falls away from Waverly’s face, smoothing out now in realisation. A memory springs to mind and it’s all-encompassing, oppressive, and so incredibly alarming that a wave of nausea washes over her.  
  
“What is it?”  
  
“You told Wynonna to let go.” Waverly’s eyes close and she blows out a breath. “I just remembered I _heard_ you.” There's a dullness to Waverly's eyes when she opens them. God, what would she do if Nicole ever…

Nicole moves her hands up over Waverly's arms. “Listen to me—"

  
“You told Wynonna to let go.” Nicole's face freezes. “Didnt you?” The answer comes in the form of guilty eyes and parted, unsure lips. Waverly sets her jaw at the confirmation and moves away.

  
“I told her to do the right thing.”

  
“The right thing?” Waverly's eyes are alight as she turns back, blazing, even. “Are you kidding?”

  
“Wynonna was slipping, okay, and we were both goin’ over unless she let go of that rope.”

  
“But she didn't. She didn't, and then I was there.” Her chest heaves. “I was there, Nicole!”

  
“I know.”

  
“For the sake of a few seconds, you could be…”

  
“Waves, I'm _sorry_.”

  
“What would I do without you?” Waverly looks angry. “Huh?”

  
“It wasn't really calculated. There wasn't time to think properly, I just—"

  
“What would I do!” Waverly's chest heaves. “I can't do this without you.” She hears Wynonna saying it and wants to claw her own skin off it hurts so much. Nicole moves to touch her and she twists away from it. “No.” Nicole persists and Waverly’s hands half-heartedly push her away. “Don’t.”  
  
“Baby, would you just listen?”  
  
“You don’t give up! No matter what, we _don’t_ give up.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
“Obviously you don’t.”  
  
“I’m here.” Nicole looks at Waverly, desperate for her to understand. “Okay? With you.”  
  
The truth is, Waverly doesn’t understand. She won’t for a while yet. Waverly feels her heart beating wildly and her body feels heavy the way it only does rarely, when she’s spiralling. Panic is a solid emotion and she clings to it, is not afraid. Her eyes, however, tell a different story and when Nicole reaches for again, this time Waverly allows it.  
  
Nicole’s hands spark something within Waverly and she flicks her eyes upward, breath still laboured, time only for her to wet her lips before her fingers curl around the waistband of Nicole’s pyjamas and she’s pulling Nicole closer in a way that conveys crystal clear intent.

  
Nicole has to brace herself lest she topple right into her, and she palms a silk-covered arm, trying to get a read on what Waverly needs, and honestly, what her own needs are. Waverly’s breath is uneven and her fingers curl into a fist as she holds Nicole close. Everything is different, an essential piece to their family puzzle lost forever, and she almost lost this too. She’s angry. She’s angry at Bulshar, at the Revenant who kidnapped her, at Dolls for leaving. Waverly is angry at herself too, for the ugly, selfish side she tries so hard to keep at bay rearing its ugly head.  
  
She’s angry at Nicole.  
  
So completely mad at the offer of heroics, though it’s interestingly one of the things Waverly loves most about her.  
  
There’s nothing Waverly can do, not about any of it. Except Nicole…  
  
Nicole is _there_ .  
  
“What do you need?” Nicole breathes, like there is anything Waverly needs other than her.  
  
Waverly kisses Nicole hard, eyes squeezed shut. It isn’t perfect; Waverly can feel her lips quivering and she exhales through her nose but it’s not enough to inhale and she can’t breathe, and she separates just far enough to do so. And God, it’s almost made it worse. To have Nicole right there and she can’t pull herself together long enough to…  
  
Nicole is looking down at her with concern and it makes Waverly feel shame. Shameful and unworthy and confused because she feels so much and it’s hard to separate any of it. After all, compartmentalising should be easy to do when it’s all she’s ever really known how to do, even before she understood the meaning of the word.  
  
Waverly’s eyes are dark when she looks up to Nicole. She doesn’t want that. She doesn’t want Nicole’s achingly soft love right now, it’ll break her heart. All she wants is Nicole. It doesn’t take long for the penny to drop. Nicole’s eyes lose their shining care and is instead replaced with a kind of hunger that is reserved for Waverly and Waverly alone.  
  
Waverly doesn’t resist when Nicole walks her backwards to the dresser, enjoys the way the wood bites into her back as she’s pushed against it. Nicole finds Waverly’s neck first, her mouth descending onto the sensitive skin where neck meets shoulder; slow, open-mouthed kisses moving upward persuading Waverly’s eyes to close.  
  
It’s _good_ ; having Nicole’s mouth on her.  
  
A surprised and irrepressible gasp escapes when Nicole’s teeth sink into her neck without warning, biting harder than they’ve ever tried before the pain is swept away with a brush of a warm tongue. It’s heady and hot, and Waverly blindly reaches for Nicole’s face and draws her into a kiss.  
  
With strong arms bracketing her body, Waverly’s hands travel south until they’re slipping beneath two waistbands to palm Nicole’s ass. Nicole kisses her harder in response and she feels the way her own body begins to heat up.  
  
By the time Waverly releases Nicole’s mouth, too addicted to full, soft lips and that sure, talented tongue to have done it sooner, it’s only to drag her top over her head. Before their lips meet again Nicole’s head tips down, fingers tugging on the robe’s belt until it’s gaping open to reveal smooth skin and perfect, round breasts.

 

Nicole slips an arm low around Waverly's hips, her mouth descending with presses of lips and tongue, Waverly's fingers in her hair.

 

Warm heat wraps around Waverly's breast and her breath comes heavier the longer Nicole works, the heat slowly beginning to pool low in her belly. Waverly's other breast receives the same attention and then Nicole is sucking the underside into her mouth, using her teeth to work a brilliant purple to the surface.

 

Thrilled by the pain, Waverly's head tips back, moaning low in her throat. She grasps Nicole's chin in her hand, pulling her up into a wet, messy kiss. Waverly kisses her over and over again, hardly able to stop. Nobody has ever kissed her the way that Nicole does. Nobody. She's wet, can feel the sickness clinging to her panties, and clumsily attempts to push them down without breaking a deep, delicious kiss.

 

It distracts Nicole enough for her to draw back, panting lightly as she helps pull the offending garment down Waverly's legs. Waverly arches into her, hands either side of Nicole's head to claim her mouth once more and to draw a warm tongue into her mouth, sucking it slowly in earnest. Hearing Nicole's vocalised pleasure pulls on some deep part of Waverly and causes her to clench around nothing.

 

Nicole steps backwards and pulls Waverly with her, leaning lower and bracing herself before gathering Waverly's full weight into her arms.

 

“Nicole-" Waverly begins to protest, knowing any unnecessary weight on her knee will only make it throb worse tomorrow.

 

“It's okay, baby,” Nicole murmurs.

 

Waverly's legs unwrap from Nicole's hips when they reach the bed, sliding down to drag the pyjama pants down Nicole's long legs, taking underwear with them. Waverly sits on the edge of the mattress while Nicole kicks them off to leave both of them bare, her fingers curling around the backs of shapely thighs once Nicole is close enough. Waverly scrapes blunt nails down and back up again, leaning forward to open her mouth and leave a long, wet kiss to Nicole's soaked core.

 

Nicole's breath comes out in a heavy, ragged gasp and Waverly digs her nails in just that little bit harder as she looks up at lidded eyes. The resulting growl causes another flood between Waverly's legs and she enjoys the hand at her throat and the near-painful way her girlfriend swears before she's leaning down and dragging her tongue over the wetness coating her lips and chin.

 

Waverly leans back on her hands and pushes up with her heel until she's scooting back to be diagonal across the bed, Nicole following every movement until they're horizontal, mouths fused together in another kiss. Nicole palms Waverly's breasts beneath her, knowing when and how hard to pinch and pull on the nipples to have Waverly squirming and desperate.

 

When it all becomes too much, Waverly pushes her head back into a pillow, hips rising in search of friction. She doesn't have to wait long before the hand at her breasts travels down between her legs, dipping into wet heat.

 

Waverly sighs long and low with Nicole's slow exploration, using a foot against the bed to tense her whole leg and push harder into Nicole's hand.

 

Nicole won't go inside, not until she hears a plea. She strokes each delicate, intimate part of Waverly and relishes in the gasps and moans, clipped sighs of her name sworn out in pleasure.

 

Nicole watches her and Waverly swears the weight of the stare alone could send her hurtling towards a devastating orgasm. It doesn't, miraculously, but there's another rush of wetness between her legs and her body begins to twitch. She grips the top of Nicole's arm until she knows the beds of her fingernails have whitened, and the stimulation slows.

 

“You feel so good,” Waverly groans. She doesn't feel pain anywhere. All she feels is Nicole.

 

Nicole moans against her neck. “You've no idea.”

 

Skilled fingers slip over her beautifully and with the dizzying press of lips and tongue against her neck, Waverly feels Nicole push her closer and closer to the point where she knows it won't be long before she reaches her peak.

 

Her arms wrap around Nicole the best they can and she opens her mouth to bite down against her shoulder. The moan against her skin makes Waverly throb and echo it, a desperate plea leaving her lips followed by a silent scream and an arched neck when long fingers sink inside of her.

 

God, it feels too good. Nicole feels too good.

 

“You're the best thing that ever happened to me."

 

Nicole kisses her then. “For me too, baby,’ she swears.

 

They kiss so long and deep that Waverly thinks they might have become part of each other, and she doesn't want it to end except Nicole's fingers are still inside of her and she's still _so_ wet and swollen that she needs Nicole. Waverly needs Nicole to make her scream.

 

She moves harder and faster against Nicole's hand, signalling her eagerness.

 

“Don't stop,” Waverly begs, stretching a leg out firmer between Nicole's legs. “Ride me and don't stop, please.”

 

There's so much heat between them, so much unadulterated pleasure that Waverly is nearly mindless by the time her body finally goes rigid, a loud cry torn from her lips.

 

Nicole takes her own pleasure more seriously once Waverly has come, riding in earnest until she's coming over Waverly's leg with hazel eyes locked onto hers as long as she can manage.

 

Once the aftershocks die down Waverly reaches to push unruly red hair away from Nicole's face and moves into her, forcing Nicole onto her back. She feels so powerful like this, with her girlfriend underneath her. Waverly feels powerful with Nicole _there_.

 

She lies on top, stretching out with an ear pressed firm to a warm chest where she can hear irrefutable, undeniable proof that Nicole is okay after the day's events. Waverly kisses over her heart and there's a gentle hand in her hair, comforting the returning ache to her chest.

 

“I don't know what to do,” Waverly admits some time later, still in the same position.

 

“None of us do, Wave.”

 

“Except… except I kinda think you do. You're so calm and sure, and I'm _stuck_ feeling like-"

 

“Like what, baby?”

 

Waverly feels silly to say it out loud, but she does it anyway. “Like if I stop touching you for even a second, that I'll go away. Sink. Fly away. Disappear. Implode? I don't know. It's hard to explain, I don't even know if I said it right.”

 

Nicole's hand roams over Waverly's back. “We’ll stay here as long as you need.”

 

“I'm still so mad at you,” Waverly states, almost conversationally.

 

“I'm still _so_ sorry.”

 

“And I am so, so in love with you,” Waverly says as she turns and settles higher into Nicole's arms, a finger skimming the soft plumpness of Nicole's cheek. Her eyes are searching because she knows she doesn't say it with words often, hardly ever, in fact, but nobody has ever listened to what she says, verbally or nonverbally, the way Nicole does. She has to know. The thought of Nicole ever _questioning_ it, even for a second… “You know that, right?” Waverly hangs her head. “I should say it to you more—”

 

Nicole cuts her off with a sweet kiss. “You say it to me every day,” she murmurs prior to another kiss. “Okay?”

Waverly nods into another kiss.

 

“You'll let me be there, right, when you need me?” Waverly asks.

 

“I always need you.”

 

“When you really need me.”

 

Nicole seems to consider the weight behind the request and the pleading way Waverly likely doesn't realise she's looking at her. It makes Nicole swallow thickly. “I promise if you promise.”

 

It's sealed with a kiss.

 

Waverly still isn't sure what she should be doing, knows she probably shouldn't be thinking about cooking a big dinner to satisfy an inappropriate hunger, but she remembers that all of this uncomfortable indecisiveness will eventually go away and the morning will bring Wynonna for her to focus on.

 

She and Nicole will have to be ready.

 

Bulshar better prepare, too. With a curious sense of truth about it, Waverly thinks that in spite of guns and magic and any other weapons they'll use in their fight with Bulshar, she'll kill him without needing any of them.


End file.
